The Ups and Downs of Pink Glitter
by heavy.sighs.and.sad.goodbyes
Summary: He said that he loved the horrid stuff, but his feelings torwards it were the exact opposite. TroyxGabriella.


A/N:

**A/N: I just got this idea out of the blue, so it might be a little rough. But I didn't feel like waiting. I hope you guys enjoy. If you haven't already checked out my other one shot, ****27 Dresses: High School Musical Twist****, take a peek see!**

He looked up with a heavy sigh, expecting to see the only girl he knew that dressed like that. Instead he saw a girl with blonde hair, and sparkles all over her face, wearing an excited grin.

He looked at the face closer, but he knew for sure that it wasn't Sharpay Evans, but one of the cheerleaders on the cheerleading squad.

He looked her over in disbelief. She had died her hair. She had put on a lot of eye make-up to make her large crystal blue eyes look smaller. Squinched even. All over her cheeks was pink glitter.

Oh, how he hated that glitter. It seemed to have spread to every girl in the school in a matter of days. All because he had said that he loved that pink glitter. How he had given his personal opinion on how he thought pink glitter was the sexiest makeup a girl could wear.

He had been being sarcastic, of course. He thought it was horrid how many girls would wear it. It looked as if they were pink Martians. The girls had been wearing so much glitter the past few days, he knew that at night they could even wash it off.

It was as if every morning before school, they took a shower in those atrocious pink specks.

Of course, they were girls. For all he knew, they probably did.

"Hi Carrie," he greeted her warmly. Or as warm as he could anyway.

"Hi Troy!" she said loudly with an excited wave. He stifled a laugh and waved back at her before looking back down at his History textbook.

Then one of those atrocious pink specks landed on the next letter he was about to read and covered it. He sighed loudly and looked up at her.

She hung over his textbook like a tree hung over a bees nest. She still had that excited grin pasted on her face. Finally he was fed up.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked her, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

She suddenly grabbed his hand. "Yes, actually there is. Do you want to go out with me after school today?"

He blinked at her and then smiled.

Being the guy that he was, he never wanted to hurt anyone's feelings by saying no. And because of it, he now had 6 dates after school Friday, all of the dates lasting until around 11:00. Then on Saturday he had 9 dates lined up. Those were all lasting until 9:00. And then Sunday he had 5 dates. To think, it was supposed to be the day of rest!

"Sure, why not? I'm completely free after school."

She let out a slight squeal. A date with _the_ Troy Bolton! "Thanks Troy! I'll meet you in the lobby after 9th period, okay?" He nodded and grinned at her and she scurried away, leaving a trail of pink glitter after her.

He frowned and glanced at the textbook at his hands. Then he looked at his wrist, which, yet again, had no watch on it.

The bell rang out in an obnoxious bleep. It was his free period. He had history right after free period, and he wanted to study for his test some more. Nothing ever beat the feeling of getting an A on a test. Except shooting the winning basket with 1 second left in overtime. That totally beat getting an A!

He closed his locker and hurried down the hallway, down another hallway, across the lobby, through the auto shop, and up the stairs. He had finally gotten where he wanted to go. His secret garden.

Well, not his exactly. It was the Science clubs. But it was Gabriella's too. They shared it. Always had, always would.

He breathed in the fresh air and looked out over the mountains. This was the one reason he didn't want to leave High School. This one place made his world go by. It made him come back to school day after day. Both the garden and Gabriella.

Even if Chad had always been his best friend, he had never had a better friend than Gabriella Montez. She was always there for him. Always encouraged him when he was having a not-so-great day, always cheered him on at his basketball games, always made him forget the rest of the world.

Sometimes he wondered why they were only friends. But it quickly got replaced with a new basketball drill or a date with a cheerleader.

He sat down and read. And read. And read. Finally he thought that he retained enough information for one day. He sighed and looked around again. And then jumped at a sound behind him.

"Was sup Wildcat?" a voice he new all too well asked him.

"Nothin' much. And you Scholastic Champ?" he asked with a grin.

Gabriella grinned and sat down next to him. Then she saw the textbook.

"Aaah. Doing some last minute studying before the big date with Carrie tonight I see."

He did a double take. "How did you know about that? Are you following me?" he asked her with a playful grin.

She smiled. "You wish. Being a cheerleader, she can get news like that around pretty fast."

He nodded, then did another double take. "Is that…?" he started to ask.

"Is that what?"

"Is that pink glitter on your cheeks?" he asked her softly. She looked away.

"I know that you don't like it, but I'm so sick of always being the odd one out. I just wanted to try a little bit. Not as much as all the other girls, but…..At least I'm starting to blend in." she told him softly. He knew that she had meant for the last part to be a joke. But he also knew that it wasn't.

Even with the glitter on her cheeks, he knew that he had to hug her. So he'd be a little glittery. Whoop-dee-doo. He hated to see his friend upset.

"Hey," he told her as he sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She leaned into him. "You don't have to feel like you have to fit in. I like you better when you stand out."

"I know. But I don't."

He glanced down at her. She wasn't crying.

Over the past few months, she had gotten a lot stronger. She didn't have to cry all the time. And it wasn't as if she was holding her emotions in. It merely meant that she was thinking about things she shouldn't be. Like how to start dressing, how to be one with the crowd.

"Don't even," he told her with a warning in his voice. She looked up at him.

"Don't even what?"

"Don't even start to think about stuff like that Gabi. You're great just the way you are." She stood up and walked to the opposite side of the garden.

"Easy for you to say. You have girls falling at your feet. You don't have to change yourself to make them look your way. I do, if I want just one guy to so much as look my way." She told him.

He was confused. She had never, ever said anything about dating before. She'd never really mentioned guys. And he hadn't either. He guessed it was because he always thought she was too busy for a boyfriend.

He stood up and walked over to her, wrapping his strong arms around her once again and kissing the top of her head, the way he always did when he was trying his hardest to comfort her.

"Don't worry about that. When you get out of here, guys will be walking down the street and see you, and they'll walk through a green light, and they'll cause a huge traffic jam. And then you'll go and visit them in the hospital, and you'll end up getting married, and you'll have a cute little story to tell your kids on how you met."

Gabriella couldn't help but laugh. With Troy putting it the way he had, she could almost picture it. But not with them walking through a green light because of her.

She shook her head. "Nah. Why would a guy want me? Troy?" she asked him.

"Hm?" he mumbled into her ear as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"What's wrong with me?"

He looked at her, even more surprised than before. She had never, ever asked him that before. Before he could stop himself, he blurted out everything that he had ever thought about her.

"Nothing's wrong with you Gabi! Don't you get it! Any flipping guy on this planet, or any other planet for that matter, would be the luckiest guy ever to date you. You're beautiful, smart, talented, funny, brave, emotional, kind, caring, friendly, and the list goes on and on! In fact, Gabi, I'm absolutely booked all weekend, but maybe next weekend, would you wanna do something with me? Maybe go catch a movie or something?"

She pulled away from him, her big chocolate brown eyes wide with alarm.

_Oh god_, Troy thought. _Now I've done it. She probably thinks that I'm making some kind of tedious joke. She'll never talk to me again._

Then Gabi smiled the biggest smile ever and nodded quickly. "I'd love to Troy. That is, if you really meant it," she told him as she started to look away, hurt by the possibility.

He put his fingers under her chin and lifted her face to look at him. When he was sure that he had eye contact, he pulled her lips up to his. On impact, they felt shivers run up and down their spines, legs, and arms. It was almost like a shock of pain, but good pain.

After a couple of seconds, they pulled away, both grinning.

"Does that answer your question?" he asked her as he brushed his lips softly against hers. She smiled and nodded.

They looked out over the Albuquerque mountains and smiled.

"You know. Pink glitter isn't so bad after all." Troy told her and pulled her closer to him, smiling at the fact that he finally learned that pink glitter had its ups and its downs.

**A/N: OK. TOTALLY CORNY LAST SENTENCE!! SORRY YOU HAD TO READ THAT! But I couldn't think of another way to end it. Anyway, hope you like it.**

**IF YOU DO, PLEASE REVIEW!! (Hey, that rhymes!)**

**And even if you didn't, still review. Tell me what I did that you did or didn't like.**

**Thanks!**

**creativechick22**


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